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Used In A Sentence: “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says Pentagon and administration lawyers are looking for ways to expand the number of Defense Department civilians who are exempt from furloughs, amid worries that the government shutdown is damaging U.S. credibility among its international allies.” From “Hagel: Pentagon looking to exempt more workers from shutdown furloughs,” by the Associated Press, published in the Washington Post, Tuesday, October 1

Why It’s Relevant: During a federal government shutdown, all “nonessential” workers are furloughed. These workers are essentially on unpaid leave for the duration of the shutdown. Additionally, earlier this year, many federal agencies furloughed some of their staff a few days during the year as part of cost-cutting measures following the implementation of sequestration (across-the-board federal funding cuts contained in the Budget Control Act). While on furlough, federal employees are not able to “volunteer” to work for the government and even checking their work e-mail is a violation of federal law. Some parts of the federal government and some employees are not affected by a shutdown because they are supported by funding not tied to the annual appropriations process (e.g., mandatory spending). For additional information see, the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s) “Guidance for Shutdown Furloughs.”

Definition: A mechanism for providing funding or other changes for a program that would otherwise not receive funding or continue in its current form under a continuing resolution (CR). Anomalies, which are typically only granted in special circumstances, can be used to adjust funding levels for specific programs in a CR to be higher or lower than the previous year’s funding level.

Used In A Sentence: “Anomalies typically are included to prevent what some or all stakeholders and parties to CR negotiations perceive as major programmatic, operational, or management problems that would be caused if an otherwise ‘cookie cutter’ approach were used to provide funding at a uniform rate and with uniform restrictions.” From “Interim Continuing Resolutions (CRs): Potential Impacts on Agency Operations,” Clinton T. Brass, Congressional Research Service, March 16, 2010.

Why It’s Relevant: As the end of fiscal year (FY) 2013 nears, it is looking likely that a CR will be needed at least for part of FY 2014. In preparation for a CR, last week the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent their list of anomalies to Capitol Hill.

Definition: Health insurance exchanges (often referred to as “exchanges”) will be marketplaces where individuals and employers can purchase comprehensive health insurance. Health insurance exchanges will be available in every state beginning January 1, 2014.

Used in a sentence: “Aetna cut its rates by 5 percent for its small group plans on the D.C. exchange, the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority said on Tuesday.” – Politico Pulse, Jason Millman, July 3, 2013.

Background: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created new health insurance exchanges. Each state must decide whether to operate their own state-based exchange (where the state maintains control over the entire exchange), a federal-state partnership exchange (where the state and federal government work together to operate the exchange), or a federal exchange (where the state relies almost entirely on the federal government to operate the exchange). Approximately one half of states have decided to operate their own state-based health insurance exchanges. Here is a list of states and the status of state health insurance exchanges. Individuals with limited incomes can apply for tax credits to help offset the costs of their premiums and/or cost-sharing requirements.

Used In A Sentence: “The Democratic-led appropriations panel added $91 billion to the spending “cap” called for under current law, setting out on a collision course with the GOP-dominated House, which has opted to stick within the spending limits mandated by Washington’s inability to follow up the 2011 law with another deficit-reduction deal.” From “Senate Dems Ignore Budget Limit, Add $91B To Spending Cap,” Associated Press, June 20, 2013.

History: Spending Caps are a mechanism used by governments to limit the amount of federal spending to avoid creating a deficit and/or adding to their national debt. A major piece of legislation that addressed this issue was H.J. Res. 372, the Balance Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, also known as the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.The main purpose of the Act was to implement a maximum amount of deficit that the federal government could allow, and over a five year period, decrease that amount until there was no deficit allowed. On August 2, 2011, President Obama signed the Budget Control Act, which placed enforceable spending caps on both defense and nondefense discretionary spending over the next ten years. In the 112th Congress (2011-2012), S. 245, the Commitment to American Prosperity Act, was introduced and would have amended the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to enact a spending cap of 20.6 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP). The bill died at the end of the 112th Congress.

Definition: A filibuster is a procedural tactic that is used to extend debate, delay a vote, or prevent legislative action. It is used in the U.S. Senate to require 60% of members to vote in favor of “cloture” to bring legislation up for consideration. The House can cut off debate with a simple majority vote.

Used in a Sentence: “Senate leaders reached a deal on Tuesday morning to preserve the filibuster in exchange for Senate confirmation of President Obama’s long-sought first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as other stalled nominees.” from “Senators Reach Agreement to Avert Fight Over Filibuster,” by Jonathan Weisman, New York Times, July 16, 2013

History: The word “filibuster” is derived from the Spanish term filibustero which means “freebooting” and the Dutch word vrijbuiter meaning “pirate.”

Definition: A caucus is defined as a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction, usually to select candidates or to decide on policy. The term is also used to describe a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon cause.

Used in a Sentence: Members of the Youth Sport Safety Caucus hosted a briefing with leading health professional organizations to discuss ways to prevent concussions in women’s soccer.

History: According to William Harris, a professor at Middlebury College, “the term Caucus is first attested in the diary of John Adams in 1763 as a meeting of a small group interested in political matters, but William Gordon’s ‘History of the Independence of the United States of America, 1788’ speaks of the establishment of caucus political clubs as going back fifty years earlier than his time of writing in 1774, so a first-occurrence date for the caucus can be estimated in retrospect as early as 1724.”

Definition: “The Beltway” is a term used to describe the geographic area around Washington, DC, that is encircled by Interstate 495. “Inside the Beltway” refers to political and U.S. Government activities and work that occur in the greater Washington, DC, area.

Used in a Sentence: “Verizon’s quick response has more to do with its brand reputation with customers and inside the Beltway than liability, sources said.” From “Verizon on offense behind the scenes,” by Anna Palmer, Politico, June 6, 2013.

History: The Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) was created in 1964, but it is unclear when the term “inside the Beltway” originated. However, Nicholas M. Horrock wrote in the New York Times on October 12, 1975, that, “It can be said that the myriad doubts about the Warren Commission’s findings in the death of President Kennedy represent a reverse situation. The doubts would never be taken seriously until they were inside the Beltway, in the halls of Congress, the courts and the White House.”

Definition: ”Score” or “CBO Score” generally refers to a cost estimate conducted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). According to CBO, the agency is required by federal law to undertake a formal cost estimate for most legislative proposals (except appropriations measures) that are passed out of a House or Senate full committee. CBO cost estimates employ certain economic assumptions and require the agency to make particular projections over a period of time, usually 10 years. CBO scores use current federal law as a baseline for its assumptions and the agency does not presume any future modifications that might be made to federal laws, programs, or spending. For example, if scoring Medicare legislation, CBO “takes that legislation as it is written and does not attempt to predict the ways in which the Congress might amend that legislation in the future … in addition to its budget projections that reflect current law, the agency regularly shows the effects of adopting alternative policies that have been discussed by the Congress, so that the budgetary impact of those alternative policies is clear.”

What it Means: The term “score” can be used both as a noun and a verb. For example, it is a common for Congressional staff to ask advocates, “Has CBO scored your bill?” Translated: the staffer is inquiring as to whether a cost estimate has been undertaken on the particular legislation. In this example, the term is being used as a verb. Another common question Members of Congress may ask when being approached to cosponsor legislation is, “What is the CBO score?” In this case, it is being used as a noun and the elected official wants to know the amount of federal spending CBO has estimated as the cost of the proposal.

History: CBO was created in 1974, as part of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and it is tasked with undertaking nonpartisan, “independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process.” In addition to formal cost estimates of bills that are passed out of full committee, the agency – upon request by a committee or member of Congressional leadership – can also undertake a formal cost estimate at other stages of the legislative process. It also is common for CBO to be asked to do an informal “score” of a draft bill or other proposal, to help inform the policymaking process. These “informal” scores typically are kept confidential as they “do not undergo the same review procedures required for formal estimates.” Other entities besides CBO can conduct legislative cost estimates; it is not uncommon for advocacy organizations to hire economic consulting firms to help them “score” legislative proposals to have cost information to share with Congressional offices they are approaching for support. For such “scores” to have any credibility they must utilize CBO’s overall methodology and employ its economic assumptions, projections, and baseline.

Definition: A Senate procedure used to end a filibuster. It has become, essentially, a vote to end debate on a certain piece of legislation.

Used in a Sentence: “The NRF [National Retail Federation] side is pretty darn near certain to prevail in this round, since the Senate’s already cleared the procedural hurdle of invoking cloture on the measure with 63 votes, leaving only a simple-majority vote ahead.” From Roll Call, “Cruz Decries Forcing Texans to Support Bloomberg’s ‘Nanny Statism’” by Niels Lesniewski, May 6, 2013

How it Works: Prior to 1917, Senate debate could only be ended through unanimous consent. In 1917, the Senate adopted the cloture rule (Rule 22) as a method of ending filibusters. A motion for cloture requires signatures from 16 Senators; once the motion has the signatures a vote is held. Three-fifths, or 60 votes, are needed for the cloture motion to pass; if passed, debate on the bill is limited to 30 hours. Once cloture has been filed, an individual Senators may speak for no more than one hour during the 30 hour period. Any amendments to the legislation filed after cloture must be germane, or relevant to the legislation at hand.

In addition to ending a filibuster, cloture motions are a way for a Majority Leader to prevent Senators from the minority party from introducing non-germane amendments. In a closely divided Senate, continued negotiations on a bill may be necessary, since 60 votes for cloture can be unlikely.

History: The number of cloture votes has skyrocketed, beginning in the early 1970s and experiencing another marked increase in the early 1990s. Between its invocation in 1917 and the late 1960s, zero to seven cloture votes during a two-year session of Congress was typical. In the 1970s and 1980s, cloture was used more frequently, between 20 to 60 times. The number in a single Congress spiked in the 110th Congress (2007-2008), with 139 cloture motions. In the first five months of the 113th Congress, 12 cloture motions already have been filed.

Definition: When the House and Senate have not agreed to a budget resolution, they may “deem” legislation to act as a budget resolution in order to move forward with the budget and appropriations process.

Used in a Sentence: “The House on Tuesday will pass a resolution that will deem the GOP-passed budget resolution as passed for the purpose of setting budget targets as members work on FY 2013 appropriations bills.” From The Hill, “House to ‘deem’ approval of 2013 budget on Tuesday,” By Pete Kasperowicz

How it Works: The law governing the congressional budget process, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, calls for the annual adoption of a budget resolution to establish levels of funding. Section 302(a) requires that the aggregate amounts of spending in the annual budget resolution be allocated by committee; this is the overall number the House and Senate Appropriations Committees receive to fund the appropriations for that year. Section 302(b) requires the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to divide their allocations by subcommittee. Around Washington, this is literally known as the 302(b) allocation. So, there is a problem when there is no agreed-upon budget resolution. Complicating things, Members of either chamber may raise a “point of order” against legislation that would violate budget resolution policies. In other words, if someone tries to bring up a spending bill, say the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill, without an agreed-upon budget resolution and therefore no 302(a) or 302(b) allocation, a Member could object on a point of order.

The deeming resolution is how Congress gets around these issues. The deeming resolution simply “deems” or provides the new spending allocations to the Appropriations Committee. According to the Congressional Research Service, “they also may set new aggregate budget levels, provide revised spending allocations to other House and Senate committees, or provide for other related purposes. A deeming resolution may even declare that a budget resolution (in its entirety), passed earlier in the session by one chamber, is deemed to have the force and effect as if adopted by both chambers.” A deeming resolution is a simple resolution requiring only the majority of votes in the chamber to pass and become effective.

History: Since the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, Congress has failed more than a few times to finalize a budget and has used deeming resolutions to “deem” funding allocations.

As the impasse between the House and the Senate regarding how to finalize a fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget resolution continues, talk of the House or Senate deeming funding allocations is heating up once again.